The Sundance Film Institute has helped bring many diverse and vital voices to a larger audience thanks to their belief that powerful storytelling is not contained to one particular race, gender or background. Before she would branch out to big action epics like The Old Guard, director Gina Prince-Bythewood made her mark with the beloved, tender romance Love & Basketball from 2000. Conceived with the idea to make a version of When Harry Met Sally through the lens of the black experience, Prince-Bythewood used her personal dedication to basketball to craft a gently unfolding story of black love without compromising to Hollywood ideals. The film had a respectable theatrical release, but it is one that has grown in stature over the years thanks to new audiences discovering how unfortunately unique it is to find a story of such depth that speaks not only to this particular audience, but general audiences all around the world.
Unfolding over four distinct “quarters” of life, the film follows Monica Wright (portrayed by Kyla Pratt as a girl, Sanaa Lathan as an adult) and Quincy McCall (Glenndon Chatman and Omar Epps) as nextdoor neighbors who traverse the emotional spectrum through the highs and lows of their lives. Our story begins in 1981 as the Wright family, Nathan (Harry Lennix, Zack Snyder’s Justice League), Camille (Alfre Woodard, Clemency) and their two girls, move in next door to Quincy and his parents, Zeke McCall (Dennis Haysbert, 24) and his wife, Nona (Debbi Morgan). Zeke is the star shooting guard for the Los Angeles Clippers and serves as an example of everything young Quincy wants to be despite his parents positioning education as the most important goal. With the arrival of Monica, Quincy is shocked to find not only a girl who loves basketball as much as he does, but one who is just as good if not better than he is. The line between jealousy and infatuation is narrow, and their initial attempts at young love shows a couple whose lives are not going to take a straightforward path.
Prince-Bythewood is so elegant in her portrayal of the passage of time. As these two young kids evolve into young adults in their senior year of high school, we sense the closeness that remains between them despite their diverging paths. Both represent the best in basketball their school has to offer, but Quincy is shown as a king of the school who has his pick of colleges, while Monica is seen as less than “ladylike” and struggles to gain any interest from colleges in a world where the WNBA is still years away. Despite this being a love story between two people, the story leans slightly more from the perspective of Monica and the obstacles she faces professionally and personally. As the two old friends become something more and transition to their time in college, new dynamics are informed by the changing locations and relationships with those people in their family. The pair are finally in a place where they can admit and act on their love for one another, but they still see a career in basketball as the goal.
One of the practical choices which allows this film to endure and resonate with so many is the care that is taken with developing a true romance. In many mainstream love stories, the entire conceit is that romance is an all-consuming goal that comes at the sacrifice of a fully realized life. More often than not, a woman can be found giving up on a dream, in fact giving up her autonomy, for the chance to be with a man. What Prince-Bythewood understands is that a romance built on such a sacrifice is a betrayal to the characters and those watching in the audience. Monica set out to be a basketball player, and if she were to give that all up for love it would be heartbreaking. Romance comes from wanting your partner to be the best version of themselves, and through both their difficult and joyous moments Quincy and Monica want that for each other. They might have to live more life before completely understanding this, but at the end of the day this is a love built on respect.
The performances from Lathan and Epps bring the dynamism and nuance required to hook the audience early on and keep them invested until the very end. This story is very friendly to a mainstream audience, and is crafted with such care by Prince-Bythewood that she makes it appear easy, but the lack of comparable quality films on this level proves that the degree of difficulty should not be underestimated. Even at a touch over two hours, the filmmaker makes sure that every moment is used to further the plot so that no moment feels wasted. For being a feature debut, the confidence exuded by Prince-Bythewood is mesmerizing. The depth that is given to this story allows it to be a film that will stick with you and keep you coming back to experience time and time again.
Video Quality
Love & Basketball has been granted a director-supervised 4K restoration in its original 1.85:1 from the original 35mm camera negative via the Criterion Collection for this beautiful new Blu-Ray disc. The film grain present is beautifully natural and consistent while allowing fine details to shine through. Subtle details stand out with greater clarity than ever before, especially in the elements of the production design. Exploring all of the various locations within this new transfer makes for a wonderfully immersive experience. Facial features are likewise detailed with fine lines and pores detectable alongside natural skin tones. Colors are vibrant without being unnatural for the environment. This feature is vibrant, and the white levels are handled wonderfully with no instances of blooming, Black levels are deep and inky without any noticeable blocking or compression artifacts. This is the best the film has looked on home entertainment.
Audio Quality
The Criterion Collection brings this new Blu-Ray to consumers with a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix that is just as worthy of praise as the video presentation. The dialogue primarily stays within the center channel, but makes its way to the surround speakers when necessary, such as the communication between teammates on the court. These games also utilize some notable environmental effects that give the track a bit of a kick. The heart and soul of the movie is the music within, everything from the memorable score from Terence Blanchard to the incredible soundtrack brings a real warm and dynamic sound to the presentation. This is a well-balanced track that gets the job done in a most admirable manner. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are provided on this disc.
Special Features
The Criterion Blu-Ray of Love & Basketball includes a foldout booklet featuring the new essay “For Your Heart” by writer Roxane Gay in which she discusses her deep love for the film, along with the themes and cultural relevance of the picture. This provides a great amount of context and insight into the film that is so worthwhile. The on-disc special features are as follows:
- Audio Commentary #1: Director Gina Prince-Bythewood and actor Sanaa Lathan provide an entertaining and personal commentary track recorded in 2000 in which they focus more on their real-life relationship to sports and the material rather than details about the production. Lathan reveals how the script changed to incorporate specific details about herself into the character as well as the process of training hard enough to not have to rely on a stunt double. This is a fun listen even if it is not focused on technical details.
- Audio Commentary #2: Director Gina Prince-Bythewood, editor Terilyn A. Shropshire, and composer Terence Blanchard provide a great commentary track in which they discuss landing on the opening of the film, the use of music in the film, collaborating to understand if a scene needed a score or a song, deliberate editing choices made to elicit an audience reaction and much more. The track also features Blanchard’s score as isolated audio.
- Playing For Your Heart – The Making Of Love & Basketball: A new 38-minute documentary featuring new interviews with Prince-Bythewood, Lathan, actors Omar Epps and Alfre Woodard, producer and writer Reggie Rock Bythewood, and basketball adviser Colleen Matsuhara. In this piece the participants reflect back on their love and legacy of the film, the place of sports in their lives, the emotional and professional journey to this film, assembling the talent for the film and much more. There are so many worthwhile personal insights into the project which make this a joy to watch.
- Editing Love & Basketball: A new 16-minute featurette with Prince‑Bythewood and Shropshire in which they discuss their initial introduction, the use of color in the film, following the story over four quarters, finding the story of each basketball game and more. You can tell how much care what taken with each sequence from these conversations.
- Athletes and Artists and Love & Basketball: A new 22-minute featurette with Prince-Bythewood, WNBA legend and Hall of Famer Sheryl Swoopes, and writer-producer-actor Lena Waithe. In this piece, the three women discuss what it means to be athletes and artists, the confidence that comes from these experiences, the importance of role models on their lives, the impact this film had on them and more. There are many emotional moments throughout this that will move you.
- Deleted Scenes: Eight scenes totaling eight minutes are provided here with optional audio commentary from Prince‑Bythewood and Shropshire which includes scenes of Quincy playing basketball with his dad and his friends, a scene between Monica and her mother, the scene of Monica in the car with her date after the date mentioned in the final film and more. Lots of really great stuff here worth seeking out.
- Auditions: Nearly ten minutes of audition footage including a chemistry read between Lathan and Epps, as well as footage of the young performers.
- Short Films: Two short films from Prince‑Bythewood are presented with a new four-minute introduction in which she explains the place she was in when she made these films, what she learned from them, and her desire to inject hope in all of her feature films.
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- Stitches (1991): A 31-minute student thesis film which involves a troubled stand-up comedian that goes to some dark places. This is a really strong effort coming out of film school.
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- Progress (1997): A three-minute film which tackles themes of racism in America.
- Trailer: The two-and-a-half minute trailer is provided here.
Final Thoughts
Love & Basketball is a moving tale of love which nimbly unfolds with a dynamic realism and respect seldom found in Hollywood romances. Gina Prince-Bythewood does an outstanding job in her first feature as she captures three-dimensional characters who are flawed but relatable. Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps have a lovely chemistry between one another which keeps rooting for love even during the most turbulent times. The Criterion Collection has released a new Blu-Ray featuring a great A/V presentation and a diverse assortment of special features. If you are looking for a thoughtful romance and do not have this film in your collection yet, you should definitely snag this one. Recommended
Love & Basketball is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: The Criterion Collection has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
